Type-writing machine.



W. P. LAMAR.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

. 1 APPLICATION man JULY 26, 1915. RENEWED ocT; 1.191s. 1,302,181,

Patented Apr. 29, 1919.

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W. P. LAMAR.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION HLED 1ULYZ6,1915. RENEWED OCT. 1.191s.

Patented Apr, 29, 1919.

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W. P. LAMAR. TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 26, 19151 RENEWED OCT. 111918: 1,302,181.Patented Apr. 29,1919.

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%/%W warm WILLIAM I. LAMAR, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

TYPE-WRITING- MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 29, 1919.

Applicationflled July 26, 1915, Serial No. 41,971. Renewed October 1,1918. Serial No. 256,469.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM P. LAMAR, acitizen of the United States, and resident of Washington, District ofColumbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in.Type-Writing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in typewriting, machines and isadapted for use either as. a permanent part of the machine orasanattachment or accessory. The object of the invention is to supplymechanism which. will permit of more rapid manipulation of the keys withless exertion than is now necessary in ordinary writing. In the use ofthe apparatus the real work of striking the blow which makes theimpression is accomplished by power mechanism released by the keyaction.

The invention will be more particularly 1 described in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a plan view of the keyboard of a typewriting machine with myimprovements applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through one of the shiftable devicescarrying the operating keys partly on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 3, the top of thecasing being removed;

Fig. 5 is an end view of the devices-shown in Figs. 3and 4;

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 66 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 77 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 is a section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 71;

Fig. 9 is a right side elevation of the mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and2;

Fig. 10 is a partial view illustrating a modification Figs. 11- and 12are details of the arrangement shown in Fig. 10.

Referringto the drawings, 20 indicates a frame of a typewriting machine,21 the usual operating keys, termed the keyboard and 22 the space key.

The devices constituting my invention are chiefly, contained within twocasings 23, 24, which are arranged over the keyboard, being each carriedby a lever 25 pivotally connected at 26 with the base of the machine.The casings 23, 241and their contained mechanism are exactly alike,excepting that there 1s a reversal in the arrangement of their containeddevices and I shall limit the description to the right hand casing 23and 28. Each of the finger keys is connected to an elbow lever 29pivotally connected to the oasmg and to a slide 30. The slides areparallel and are. suitably supported and guided. The thumb key isconnected to asimilar slide 31, which, as shown, is centrally arrangedwith respect to the slide 30. Each of the slides 30 is forked at itsfree end and within the fork rests a lever 32 pivoted to the casing at33 and depending therefrom. Each lever 32 carries at its lower end anoperating lever 34, the function of which will be presently described.

The casings 23, 24, may be moved back and forth over the keyboard. Eachcasing carries five strikers 35 for depressing the keys of the keyboard.In the form shown in Figs. 1 to 9 inclusive, the strikers are nor mallyheld in upper positions by springs 36 and to the upper end of eachstriker is connected a cord 37 which passes around pulleys 38, 39, andis connected to the innerend of its corresponding lever 34. When one ofthe keys 27 is depressed it rocks a lever 29, moves outward a slide 30which rocks the depending lever 32, swinging the lever 34 outward untilits outer end is in the path of the paddles of a paddle wheel 40, whichis arranged along the side of the keyboard. The paddle wheel isconstantly under tension to turn which maybe imparted to it, forinstance, by a belt slipping over a pulley 41. It is restrained fromturning by a pawl 42, which pawl is rocked by the outward movement ofthe bar 30 or the lever 32, permitting the paddle wheel to make aquarter turn for each key that is operated. When the paddle wheel isreleased one of the paddles strikes the lever 34 which has beenoperated, throwing it down from the full line position to the dottedline position, Fig. 3, and the lever operating through its correspondingcord, operates a striker which in turn operates the selected key ofthetype:

1writer causing a printing stroke of the type In order to prevent anincomplete stroke of the type bar due to releasing the keys 27 or 28 tooquickly, I prefer to lock the selected lever 32 in its outward positionuntil the corresponding lever 34 has been fully operated by the paddlewheel. As shown in Fig. 7, the lever 32 when moved outward will rock alatch lever 43 and release a spring stop 44 which will spring in behindthe lever 32 and prevent it from returning until the lever 34 has made afull stroke and properly operated the selected type bar. As the lever 34completes its stroke and reaches the dotted position, Fig. 3, a cam orWedge 45 ,(Fig. 8) will cooperate with a similar cam or wedge 46 on thespring latch 44 and spring the engaging end of the latch 44 away fromthe lever 32, permitting said lever to return to its normal position, inwhich position the lever 34 is held away from the paddle wheel. Thelatch 43 engages the latch spring 44 and retains it until the lever 32is again moved forward, being assisted in this action by a spring 47(Fig. 7).

The ordinary keys of a typewriter keyboard are not suitably arranged foroperation by the devices above described and I therefore supplyconnections which are interposed between the strikers 35 and the keys 21and which may be termed interponents. As shown in Figs. 2 and 9, theinterponents or supplemental keys 48 have stems which are mounted in aplate 49 and which rest on the typewriter keys 21. These stems are ofdifferent length so that their tops are substantially on a level, butpreferably arranged in the arc of a circle drawn about the pivot line 26so that the tops of all of the interponents are equally distant from'thestrikers 35. The interponents have key tops which are arranged in rowsfrom front to rear and laterally, in rectangular arrangement, which isbetter suited for the operation of my devices than the diagonalarrangement of the typewriter keyboard and to accomplish thisrectangular arrangement the lower parts of the interponent stems areoffset, as may be necessary, so as to rest on their corresponding keys.

In operation the hands are permitted to rest on the casings 23 with thefingers on the respective keys 27 and the thumbs in position to operatethe keys 28. The casings 23 are freely movable back and forth over thekeyboard and to print any particular type the proper casing is moveduntil the row of strikers, which is centrally arranged in the casing, isover the line of keys of the keyboard in which the desired key islocated. This adjustment of the hand devices will be made rapidly andunerringly by a little experience without the use of an index or scale,but for the con venience of beginners I provide a scale 51 (Fig. 1) andarrange an indicator 52 on each casing. The scale 51 is provided withfour marks which indicate the four positions in which the strikers areover the four lines of the supplemental keys 48, corresponding to thefour lines of keys of the keyboard. Having positioned the casing 23 theproper key 27 is'depressed, operating to print the type in the mannerheretofore described. The impression of the key requires but very slighteffort as it simply has to swing the lever 32 to carry the lever 34 intoposition to be struck by the paddle wheel. The real work of printing isaccomplished by power transmitted through the paddle wheel. The operatoris so relieved from the effort of striking the blow to print the typeand from having to move the hands over the keyboard laterally, that muchmore rapid work can be accomplished than in operating a machine in theodinary manner. The hands rest on the casings 23 continuously and it isonly necessary to move the arms very slightly to shift the easings backand forth and to press the necessary keys on the casings.

To operate the space key 22 I provide upward extensions 53 having a baror supplemental space key 54, as shown in Figs. 1 and 9. The space keymay be operated by any one, of the finger or thumb keys by simply movingthe hand devices 23, 24, forward to the proper position.

In the form of my invention heretofore described the strikers areimpelled to move the keys of the machine by the paddle wheel and arereturned to normal position by springs. It is within the scope of myinvention to reverse this arrangement and in Fig. 10 I have shownmechanism embodying such reversal. Referring to this figure 48represents one of the supplemental key levers and 60 one of the fingerkeys of the shifting hand-operating devices. The striker 61 has anupward extension 62 provided with a notch 63 which is engaged by the end64 of a slide 65. The slide 65 is operated by an elbow lever 66 pivotedto the casing at 67, to which elbow lever the key 60 is also pivotallyconnected. The slide 65 is suitably guided in the casing and it operatesa lever 68 which is pivotally connected to the casing at 69. The lowerend of the lever carries a cross lever 70, the innerend of which isconnected through a cord 71 to the striker 61. When the paddle wheel 72strikes the lever it moves it from the dotted position to the full lineposition (Fig. 10) drawing the striker up to the position shown in whichit is engaged by the slide 65. Whenever the corresponding key isoperated the striker is instantly released and moves down upon the key48, operating the corresponding type bar, and

immediately thereafter the paddle wheel, which is power operated,strikes the lever 70 and draws the striker up until it is again held bythe latch 64.

Referring to Figs. 11 and 12, I have shown a device by means of which aspace key 80 may be operated by the same striker that operates a typekey 81. The striker 82 is drawn down by a cord 83 operated from a paddlewheel, as described in connection with Figs. 1 to 9 inclusive, thestriker being normally raised by a spring 85. The striker has a lateralextension 86 at its lower end, the normal position of which is over thekey 81. When it is desired to have the striker operate on the space key80, a lever 87 is pressed to one side against the tension of a spring 88and through connections 89 and 90, and it turns the striker until thelip or extension 86 is moved over the space key, as indicated in dottedlines in Fig. 11.

In Figs. 1, 2 and 9 I have illustrated one means of operating theescapement pawl 42 to release the paddle wheel. The paddle wheel and itsratchet wheel 74.- are constantly under a tension to move in a directionto operate the printing mechanism. The paddle wheel, however, isrestrained by the pawl 42 as indicated in Fig. 2. This pawl is connectedby link 77 to a bail 75 which is pivoted at its front and rear ends tothe frame of the machine on the axial line 76. When a key 27 is operatedthe corresponding lever is moved outward and operates the bail 75rocking the pawl 42. This permits the paddle wheel to make a quarterrevolution and the parts are restored to normal position as soon as thekey 27 is released.

Having described my invention what I claim and desire to be secured byLetters- Patent is,

1. The combination with a typewriting machine having a keyboard, ofdevices movable over the keyboard and each provided with a plurality ofkeys less in number than the keys of the keyboard, and connectionswhereby any key of the keyboard may be operated by said devices.

2. The combination with a typewriter having a keyboard, of two devicesmovable over the keyboard and each provided with a set of keys less innumber than the keys of the keyboard, and means whereby the typewritermay be operated by power released by the keys of said devices.

3. The combination with a typewriter having a keyboard, of right andleft hand devices movable over the keyboard and each provided withfinger keys less in number than the keys of the keyboard and poweroperated means releasable by the keys of said devices to effect printingby the typewriter.

4. The combination with a typewriting machine having a keyboard, ofinterponents resting on the keys of the keyboard, the upper ends of saidinterponents being in rectangular arrangement, and hand operated devicesmovable over the interponents and adapted to operate them at will.

5. The combination with a typewriting machine having a keyboard, ofinterponents resting on the keys of the keyboard, the upper ends of saidinterponents being in rectangular arrangement, and hand operated devicesmovable over the interponents and adapted to operate them at will, saidhand operated devices being arranged to release power operated devicesto move the interponents and the keys upon which they rest and effectprinting.

6. The combination with a typewriting machine having a keyboard of twohand operated devices pivotally connected at the right and left sides ofthe'keyboard and provided with finger keys, paddle wheels arranged atthe sides of the keyboard, means operated by the finger keys forreleasing the paddle wheels, and means operated by the paddle wheels forstriking the keyboard and causing the type to print.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM P. LAMAR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for live cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0.

